Industrial Therapy Organisation (ITO) – Pioneering mental health recovery
One Thing I Remember
Lustral (a.k.a. Sertraline antidepressant) stationery
Pharmaceutical freebies
Ever picked up a pen and found it was advertising an antidepressant?
Welcome to the world of pharmaceutical branded goodies, colloquially known as “pharma swag”.
These little freebies were once generously distributed by drug reps during meetings with medical professionals.
This practice peaked in the 1990s and now some of these items have even become collectible.
Pharmaceutical branded paper & sticky notes
Solian antipsychotic branded tissues & other stationery
Influencing prescribing practice
Until rules and regulations began to change in the 1990s before being further tightened in 2012, medical professionals would be treated to free lunches and staff away days, all funded by the drug companies.
Accompanying the free lunch would also be this medication-branded merchandise, which could really be any sort of product.
However, typical offerings were stationery related, to adorn medical professionals’ desks and offices as a daily visible reminder of the drug company’s brand name and/or medication name.
Ubiquitous items were mugs, pens, pencils, paper pads, diaries and post it notes but also seen were wall clocks, mouse mats, table lamps, staplers and stress balls.
Was this a smart strategy for product placement, or a questionable professional practice?
Risperidone dosing information behind Swiss Army Knife card
Risperidone prescribing information
Atypical antipsychotic advertising
Although you may recognise the more common offerings, there were many more obscure and now rather rare items distributed with pharmaceutical company branding emblazoned on them.
This Victorinox Swiss Army knife card produced by drug manufacturer Jannsen-Cilag was manufactured in September 2001 and gifted to a community psychiatric nurse in Bristol.
The slick packaging contains marketing and dosing information for Risperidone, an atypical antipsychotic medication for treatment of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.
While a smartly presented and indisputably indispensable tool, the pairing could be noted as more than a little incongruous.
Medical relevance of gifts
It seems Risperdal had a knack for functional gifts, also having widely gifted this car kit, which includes jump leads, de-icer and tow rope.
But how would you feel having been gifted something so useful?
Could your prescribing decisions remain entirely neutral if one drug company's goody bag had helped you out when you were having car trouble?
In the USA some states trialled restricting such gifts between 2005 and 2009. Drug market shares were seen to fall by 39% to as much as 83%.
Did you know?
Zyprexa sticky book marks & Augmentin Maglite torch
Phasing out the freebies
Ethical concerns and regulations later stipulated rules around gifts to medical professionals that resulted in a much reduced output of pharmaceutical branded freebies.
Since 2016 medical professionals in the U.K. must declare any gifts (and funded experiences such as day trips) they have received courtesy of drug companies.
This array of items tell an interesting story of ethics in the history of medical marketing.
Have you ever come across any of these medication-branded promotional goodies, and how do you feel when reflecting on them?
Memories of drug rep gifts
A pharmacist's perspective
Community pharmacist Kevin Moseley qualified and entered the industry in the early 1990s and shared these insights:
“When I began my career in community pharmacy, pharmaceutical sales representatives were well known for coming into the pharmacy to distribute training materials and freebies - pens, mugs and notepads were the usual items - to build brand loyalty, and keep their products front of mind.
However, because their primary focus was on prescribers, particularly GPs and consultants, whose decisions directly drove drug sales, pharmacists were rarely the main target, as they had little influence over what was prescribed.
Still, reps often cultivated relationships with us as valuable sources of intelligence, particularly trying to find out which local GPs were (or weren't!) prescribing their brands, thereby discretely helping them identify which doctors were most worth approaching. We would grumble good-naturely that the GPs would get the free lunches and the Filofax, desk tidy or branded clock, and we might just get a pad of Post-It notes!
Over time, tightening industry regulations and growing scrutiny of marketing practices led to the gradual phasing out of such giveaways, forcing reps to adopt more compliance-focused and data driven strategies. Hence why some of the older items might be more sought after by collectors nowadays. ”
Anna Bryant, a trustee at our museum, shared with us a more unusual memory of drug branded merchandise from her childhood:
In around 1985 or so, when I was at Hotwells Primary School the dad of one of my best friends was a GP. At that point birthday party bags weren't really a thing - you normally left clutching a piece of cake and a balloon - but what riches there were from her parties - all the stationary a 9 year old girl could want!
I seem to remember magnetic paperclip holders, pens and desk tidies, possibly post it notes? There was only one downside, they didn't come in the on-trend pastel colours of the time, but instead were branded with indecipherable words. But we didn't care, just more stationary to adorn our desks!
Explore further insights from Glenside Hospital Museum via the following blog posts:
- The straitjacket and padded cell: care or brutality?
- What impression did Glenside Hospital have on those who lived and worked there?
- Butlins, stranger than a psychiatric hospital
Better still, pay us a visit at the museum or visit us virtually using the Bloomberg Connects app.
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